NC 780V
"Fasten Seat Belts Please"
December 13, 1943
Copyright 2006
By: Don R. Jordan
Photo property of aerofiles.com. Copyright by K.O. Eckland
Normally, I wouldn't
write a story on an accident of this nature. But I thought this
one would be interesting to some readers who just might have the
opportunity to fly in an open cockpit type of aircraft. It's the
rather strange story of Student Pilot Mr. William D. Williams, age 25,
of Baker, California. Mr. Williams wanted to learn to fly,
probably with the hopes of joining the war effort as a pilot flying
bombers or fighters. Unfortunately his flying career would only
last for three hours and forty minutes.
At 3:45 p.m. on December 13, 1943, Williams and his flight instructor, Mr. Charles D. Ozanich, departed the Silver Lake airport near Baker, California in a Fleet 7 Deluxe, open cockpit biplane. Ozanich was in the front, and Williams was seated in the rear cockpit. This particular lesson was to give the student some practice in spin recovery. In the early days of flight instruction, spins were a normal part of the curriculum. Ten minutes after taking off from the Silver Lake airport the aircraft had reached an altitude of 3,000 feet, and was approximately one mile southwest of the airport. At that point Ozanich demonstrated a normal spin and spin recovery maneuver to Williams. He then told the eager student to perform the same maneuver.
Flying from the rear, and out of sight of his instructor, Williams pulled off the power, stalled the aircraft and pushed the right rudder pedal all the way to the floor. The aircraft responded by entering a spin to the right. After two turns Williams attempted to recover the aircraft back to normal flight. Normal spin recovery required the pilot to neutralize the controls, and wait for the aircraft to regain flying speed, at which time power is applied and the nose is pulled up to level flight. However, William did not use normal recovery procedures.
After the second turn in the spin William abruptly pushed the control stick full forward and applied full power to the engine. This action essentially tried to put the aircraft into an outside loop. In the front cockpit, instructor Ozanich was violently thrown against his seat belt as the centrifugal force tired to throw him out of the aircraft. Ozanich immediately took control of the aircraft, pulled off the power and raised the nose to level flight. Then he attempted to tell Williams through the speaking tube what he had done wrong, and explained why he had to take over the controls. But William did not answer!
After several attempts to get a response from his student, Ozanich turn around to see why he was not answering the calls. When he did, he could not believe his eyes. To his horror he found that Williams was no longer in the aircraft. For some reason William's seat belt had come unfastened at some point during the flight. The violent spin recovery maneuver had created such a strong pulling force on his body, that he was ripped from his seat and flung out into open air. Ozanich was startled by the sight, but he knew that Williams, like himself, was wearing a parachute. All he had to do was pull the rip-cord, and float gently down to the desert floor.
Ozanich began to circle the area above where they had entered the spin maneuver. He hoped to see the student hanging below the slowly descending parachute. After a few minutes of searching he observed what appeared to be the still body of a man on the desert sands far below. Upon descending to a lower altitude, he noticed the partially open parachute strung out behind the body. Ozanich performed a low approach over the man and observed that the parachute had not fully opened, but was instead just blowing in the wind, and the man had not moved in greeting.
Now Ozanich was deeply concerned and immediately set a course back to the airport to report what had happened. After landing he and a rescue party went to the area where Williams had come down. There they found his crumpled and broken body lying motionless where it fell. It was now obvious that Williams had failed to pull the rip-cord, and was killed instantly when he hit the ground.
Examination of the parachute reveled that it had popped open due to the force of impact with the ground. The rip-cord had not been pulled, and was still stowed in its holder on the harness. It appeared that Williams must have suffered sufficient shock or injury to cause him to be dazed or unconscious at the time he was thrown from the rear cockpit of the aircraft. Ozanich stated that it was his custom to insure a student's safety belt is secured before they leave the ground. He had indeed asked Williams to check his belt before take-off, and William had answered in the affirmative. However, it was apparent that Williams had unfastened it, either intentionally or inadvertently, sometime during the flight.
While a contributing factor to the accident was the student's action in placing the aircraft in an abrupt power dive during recovery from a spin, the fact that his safety belt was unbuckled allowed him to be ejected from the aircraft, falling to his death.
Don R. Jordan
Back to "True Tales" Main page
Photo property of aerofiles.com. Copyright by K.O. Eckland
At 3:45 p.m. on December 13, 1943, Williams and his flight instructor, Mr. Charles D. Ozanich, departed the Silver Lake airport near Baker, California in a Fleet 7 Deluxe, open cockpit biplane. Ozanich was in the front, and Williams was seated in the rear cockpit. This particular lesson was to give the student some practice in spin recovery. In the early days of flight instruction, spins were a normal part of the curriculum. Ten minutes after taking off from the Silver Lake airport the aircraft had reached an altitude of 3,000 feet, and was approximately one mile southwest of the airport. At that point Ozanich demonstrated a normal spin and spin recovery maneuver to Williams. He then told the eager student to perform the same maneuver.
Flying from the rear, and out of sight of his instructor, Williams pulled off the power, stalled the aircraft and pushed the right rudder pedal all the way to the floor. The aircraft responded by entering a spin to the right. After two turns Williams attempted to recover the aircraft back to normal flight. Normal spin recovery required the pilot to neutralize the controls, and wait for the aircraft to regain flying speed, at which time power is applied and the nose is pulled up to level flight. However, William did not use normal recovery procedures.
After the second turn in the spin William abruptly pushed the control stick full forward and applied full power to the engine. This action essentially tried to put the aircraft into an outside loop. In the front cockpit, instructor Ozanich was violently thrown against his seat belt as the centrifugal force tired to throw him out of the aircraft. Ozanich immediately took control of the aircraft, pulled off the power and raised the nose to level flight. Then he attempted to tell Williams through the speaking tube what he had done wrong, and explained why he had to take over the controls. But William did not answer!
After several attempts to get a response from his student, Ozanich turn around to see why he was not answering the calls. When he did, he could not believe his eyes. To his horror he found that Williams was no longer in the aircraft. For some reason William's seat belt had come unfastened at some point during the flight. The violent spin recovery maneuver had created such a strong pulling force on his body, that he was ripped from his seat and flung out into open air. Ozanich was startled by the sight, but he knew that Williams, like himself, was wearing a parachute. All he had to do was pull the rip-cord, and float gently down to the desert floor.
Ozanich began to circle the area above where they had entered the spin maneuver. He hoped to see the student hanging below the slowly descending parachute. After a few minutes of searching he observed what appeared to be the still body of a man on the desert sands far below. Upon descending to a lower altitude, he noticed the partially open parachute strung out behind the body. Ozanich performed a low approach over the man and observed that the parachute had not fully opened, but was instead just blowing in the wind, and the man had not moved in greeting.
Now Ozanich was deeply concerned and immediately set a course back to the airport to report what had happened. After landing he and a rescue party went to the area where Williams had come down. There they found his crumpled and broken body lying motionless where it fell. It was now obvious that Williams had failed to pull the rip-cord, and was killed instantly when he hit the ground.
Examination of the parachute reveled that it had popped open due to the force of impact with the ground. The rip-cord had not been pulled, and was still stowed in its holder on the harness. It appeared that Williams must have suffered sufficient shock or injury to cause him to be dazed or unconscious at the time he was thrown from the rear cockpit of the aircraft. Ozanich stated that it was his custom to insure a student's safety belt is secured before they leave the ground. He had indeed asked Williams to check his belt before take-off, and William had answered in the affirmative. However, it was apparent that Williams had unfastened it, either intentionally or inadvertently, sometime during the flight.
While a contributing factor to the accident was the student's action in placing the aircraft in an abrupt power dive during recovery from a spin, the fact that his safety belt was unbuckled allowed him to be ejected from the aircraft, falling to his death.
Don R. Jordan
Back to "True Tales" Main page
Photo property of aerofiles.com. Copyright by K.O. Eckland